


The Rarest of Chances

by thetreesgrowodd



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Empathy, F/M, Second Chances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-11
Updated: 2011-08-11
Packaged: 2017-10-22 12:19:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/237937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetreesgrowodd/pseuds/thetreesgrowodd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Data and Tasha get a second chance, only this time Data has emotions. Deanna accidentally empathically eavesdrops on them, to Will's amusement.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Rarest of Chances

**Author's Note:**

> Set sometime after the end of the series. Call it an AU if you want a plausible explanation for Tasha being alive.

"Someone just beamed down." Deanna turned to look toward the mansion, eyes scanning for the intruder.

"What?" Will automatically turned to look too, although it was too dark to see anything. The senior officers were on shore leave together in a secret, secluded location. No one should be beaming down. If they were, it meant either a threat or an emergency.

"I suddenly sense a new presence here," Deanna frowned, a searching look in her eyes. Then she sighed in relief and relaxed again in Will's arms. "No, wait. It's just Data. He must have just turned on his emotions chip. I'm not used to sensing him yet." She smiled slowly, serenely at the feeling, face lovely in the firelight.

Will fingered one of her trailing curls, floating on the warm water. "He must want to enjoy this with the rest of us. He earned it as much as any of us."

The vacation was a reward and a celebration, following the completion of one of their most taxing missions and the miraculous safe return of Tasha Yar. Will was still amazed that she was alive, and at how natural it felt having her back with them.

"He's happy. He's..." Deanna paused. "Tasha's with him. I'm sensing very strong emotions from both of them. Almost as if..." Deanna closed her mouth suddenly. Her face became very neutral. It was an expression Will knew as one of professional detachment.

"As if...?" Will prompted, grinning.

"It's none of our business," Deanna said, primly. "As an empath, it's important that I let some things remain private." It was hard to tell in the low light, but her cheeks looked pink.

Will laughed heartily, jostling Deanna. "Good for him! And good for her!"

"Will! Did you put him up to this!?" Deanna asked, laughing in mock-outrage.

"No! No!"

"Her, then?"

"No! I swear, I'm innocent!" He wrapped his arms around her tighter, as if she were in danger of slipping off his lap.

"Well why do I get the feeling you expected this?"

Will kissed the corner of her mouth. "I may have had some foreknowledge, but... it's important to let some things remain private," he told her, echoing her words back playfully. While Tasha was away, Data had become so much more than he had once been. Will had hoped — suspected, even — that whatever had once been between them would be rekindled. That they would be given a second chance, for both their sakes.

"You know something about this," Deanna said.

"I know something about _this_ ," he said with a broad grin, shifting the bottom of her bathing suit to the side under the water.

"Will," she breathed.

He felt the brush of her mind, her own pleasure and his there, mixing with the heady emotions all around them.


End file.
